Cycle Sport October 2013 issue on sale now

Cycle Sport October 2013 issue is on sale now, available from WHSmith, major supermarkets and all good newsagents priced £4.50

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Kenny Pryde went to the Tour of Poland to see what was next for Bradley Wiggins’s career

It is 31 degrees in Krakow’s Rynek Glowny, the medieval market square
packed with spectators enjoying the Tour of Poland. Inside a PVC tent
that doubles as an interview space, it’s several degrees warmer than
that. Although he had crossed the finish line an hour earlier, having
won the 37km time trial, sweat is still trickling down Bradley Wiggins’
neck as he faces the Polish media.

Astonishingly, it was Wiggins’ first win since the London Olympic
Games time trial in Hampton Court almost exactly a year earlier. From a
golden throne to a sweaty tent, a year is a long time in sport.

Wiggins had put almost a minute into Fabian Cancellara, his
RadioShack rival, in a testing hilly-then-flat time trial that concluded
the Tour of Poland. It had been a hell of a performance and one that
shocked the Swiss rider. In another smaller tent, still peeling his
yellow skinsuit off, ephemeral race leader Christophe Riblon turns to
Cancellara, “Did you win the stage then?” The Swiss raises his eyebrows,
“No, Wiggins… by a minute.”

Riblon’s eyes widen in surprise as Cancellara nods a resigned ‘Yes, I
know.’ Had Cancellara just seen the writing on the wall for months to
come? Wiggins his new time trial nemesis? If Wiggins is to abandon
general classifications and concentrate on winning time trial stages and
titles, had Cancellara just seen the future?

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What’s behind the success of the Colombian riders this year?
Klaus Bellon looks at what’s happening in South America that has
produced this latest generation

Like others in the pro peloton during the 1980s, Pedro Delgado
couldn’t figure out how Colombia’s relatively unknown riders were
capable of such amazing climbing feats. He wondered if the chunks of
panela – the unrefined, highly caramelised sugary snack that Colombian
riders brought with them to Europe – had something to do with it. Such
was Delgado’s curiosity that he once asked Patrocinio Jimenez, who was a
mainstay in early Café De Colombia teams, if he could have a piece of
this foreign substance that no one in Europe was able to identify.
Jimenez obliged, and the Spaniard bit down on the rock-hard piece of
panela. He nearly lost a tooth to his naiveté.

Delgado’s curiosity had got the better of him, but he was not alone
in his efforts to understand why Colombian riders excelled at a sport
that had flourished in continental Europe almost exclusively. That
curiosity remains today, as Colombian professionals retain a certain
mystique, due in great part to how little most people know about
Colombia itself.

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Marcel Kittel was the sensation of this year’s Tour de France.
Sophie Smith followed the Argos-Shimano team throughout the race to see
what made the difference

It’s dusk in Paris and a crowd has gathered around the Argos-Shimano
team bus parked 400m down from the finish line of the centenary Tour de
France. Flutes have been placed on two high tables outside the bus but
the champagne is on ice until Marcel Kittel gets back.

Kittel has just defeated Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Mark
Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to
claim his fourth stage victory of the race and for the first time in his
career finish a Grand Tour.

Koen de Kort is outside doing interviews under mobile camera lights
as a collective voice emanates from inside the bus.
“Tika-taka-tika-taka,” comes the victory cry the team initially chanted
three weeks prior, when Kittel won the opening stage in Corsica and with
it the first yellow, green and white jersey of the race. The inside of
the bus is illuminated and on one of its televisions is a replay of the
finish on the famed home straight, which the 25-time Tour stage winner
Cavendish has, until now, never lost on.

“Cavendish is dead, all hail Kittel,” rallies a spectator standing nearby, as team cars navigate the temporary parking compound.

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Cycle Sport October 2013: Contents

Focus: Best photography from the world of cycling

Riblon’s bike: Close-up look at the bike that won on Ale d’Huez

Team of the month: CS’s fantasy team from the last month of racing

The Vicar of Nibali: Cycling mad church where the bike is worshipped

Racing by numbers: CS’s resident statistician reviews the month

We love Eneco: The week-long race is an ideal antidote to post-Tour blues

Objects of desire: This month we’re mostly lusting over tubs and helmets